After an emotional come-from-behind road win in the Cy-Hawk game, Iowa State basketball returns home for its penultimate non-conference game Sunday afternoon.
The Cyclones (8-1) enter Sunday’s game with a five-game winning streak. They’ll be heavy favorites against visiting Omaha.
Omaha (4-7) will play Northern Iowa on Friday night, before taking on the Cyclones. The Mavericks entered Friday with losses in seven of their last nine games.
Tip-off is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT. The game will be available on CBS Sports Network.
Here are three things to watch on Sunday:
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Omaha’s Marquel Sutton leads the Mavericks
The 6-foot-8 senior forward was a preseason second-team All-Summit League selection, and he’s lived up to the billing so far.
Sutton is averaging 17.2 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. A physical, interior-focused forward, he’s shooting 44.4% from the field, but can occasionally take-and-make 3-pointers when left wide open.
He is coming off of back-to-back 20-point games, and he may be the only true dynamic threat for the Cyclones to worry about.
Tony Osburn is another player to keep an eye on. He is averaging 11.8 points per game, while shooting 50.6% and 37.0% from deep.
This leading scoring tandem will try to cover up for a Maverick team that ranks 294th in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom and lies in the bottom-third of the country in numerous team defensive statistical categories.
Nate Heise’s continued growth with the Cyclones
The top six of Iowa State’s rotation have been clear-cut since the season started. You can rely on that starting five, with Curtis Jones off the bench, to do their job on both ends of the court.
Although the seventh, eighth and ninth pieces of the rotation were identified as Nate Heise, Brandton Chatfield and true freshman Nojus Indrusaitis, their production was not as consistent as the other six.
Heise came with a ton of collegiate experience after playing four years at Northern Iowa, with the 2023-24 season being the best of his career.
It had been a slow start with Iowa State, but over a month into the 2024-25 season, it appears that he’s finally starting to settle into a groove in his new surroundings.
Heise is coming off of his most complete outing yet, a 10-point, six-rebound performance off the bench against Iowa where he did a little bit of everything and showed that versatility that he had been praised for during preseason chatter.
If he can continue to build off of that performance and gain confidence over the final two non-conference games, he’ll be a valued asset and provide added depth to a dangerous Iowa State team.
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Playing time for all
The Cyclones may have trailed for a majority of the game Thursday night against rival Iowa, but there likely won’t be as much suspense on Sunday.
KenPom projects Iowa State as a 99.8% favorite to win, with a final score prediction of 91-60.
The Cyclones defeated preseason Summit League favorite Kansas City, 82-56, in their second game of the campaign back on Nov. 11
Omaha was tabbed to finish eighth out of nine Summit League teams in the preseason poll.
This will be an opportunity for Iowa State players to gain some scoring confidence and perhaps an opportunity for the Cyclones to empty their bench.
Eugene Rapay covers Iowa State athletics for the Des Moines Register. Contact Eugene at erapay@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @erapay5.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa State vs Omaha preview: 3 things to watch for Cyclones basketball
